I basically agree with comments on the definitions of the 'community' a
museum serves:
 
> I think "community" is often used as a polite code word for minority, at
> least in cities where museum visitors and the nearby population are not
> significantly the same (the Detroit Institute of Art comes to mind and,
> to some extent, the Brooklyn and Queens Museums).
 
And 'minority' is often used as a polite code word for non
caucasian-establishment-types.  My recollection of a brief visit to
Brooklyn and Queens was the minority seemed to be the majority there :)
I prefer to think of museum communities in terms of their information
needs rather than demographic parameters.  The challenge is to keep the
distribution services a museum is able to provide reasonably equitable.
 
> But there are also communities of scholars, interested citizens and, yes,
> tourists. What do we make of the "community" that lives around the
> Metropolitan Museum, including, among others, Jackie Onassis, the people
> of East Harlem and a great many squirrels and birds in Central Park? The
> issue is, I think, access and, with that, usefulness. Museums should be
> thought of as information utilities that are open to any community that will
> find them useful (and, perhaps, convenient). The key is knowing what people
> want from you and whether you can realistically provide what they want
> without harming your mission (or whether you should change your mission).
 
But shouldn't a mission (or at least part of it) be to provide what
people want/need?  If not, perhaps the mission statement should be
revisited.  Is it possible for a museum to be truly self-indulgent? -  I
often dream of running such an institution, but reality gets in the way.
 
The question is, which of its various client communities should a
museum resond to.  Should it depend entirely on the desires/needs of
those paying, directly or indirectly, to keep the museum alive?  But
without local sympathy, I would imagine any museum would find life very
difficult.
 
jim
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Jim Croft           [Herbarium CBG]               internet: [log in to unmask]
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